The Kenya Wildlife Service has praised the British government over its plan to close - with some limited exemptions - its domestic ivory markets.
KWS Spokesman Paul Gathitu yesterday said the existence of the trade obliterate any chances for opportunists, who may have in the past used the existing market in antique ivory as a cover for trade in illegal ivory.
"The existence of these markets fuels demand for ivory within the UK and abroad thus contributing to poaching," Gathitu said.
Worked ivory continues to be traded legally within UK and the other EU member states, in auction houses, markets, shops and online .
Antique items can even be traded without permits or certificates.
The existing rules allow for “worked” or carved items produced before March 3, 1947 to be sold in the UK.
The new proposals being put in place could ban the sale of older items.
On January 5, Kenya’s determination to end all trade in ivory got a boost after the UK announced plans to end the domestic ivory trade.
UK’s head of prosperity team and deputy permanent representative to the UN John Hamilton told the media in Nairobi that the ban was on course.
Kenya has been pushing for a total ban on ivory trade, warning the trade risks wiping out elephants.
UK’s Environment Secretary Michael Gove had earlier raised concerns over the decline in the elephant population fueled by poaching.
Government called for radical and robust action to protect one of the world’s most iconic and treasured species is beyond dispute.
"Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol, so we want to ban its sale. These plans will put the UK front and centre of global efforts to end the insidious trade in ivory,”he said.
Effective January 1, 2018, China banned the mainland domestic sale of elephant ivory and related products, a significant move toward slowing the annual slaughter of the largest land animals on Earth.
"The UK’s plan to follow suit could not have come at a better time,"Gathitu said.
Gathitu said KWS and Kenya recognize this bold step as the equivalent of climbing several rungs up the ladder in the war against elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade, pulling especially the African elephant further away from the precipice of extinction.
"The significance of support from such an influential quarter can be measured in the multiple effects seen in the results on the ground."
Gathitu said an example is the global effort focusing on elephant conservation between 2014 to date, targeting ivory source countries, transit and consumer countries, which has led to remarkable reduction in elephant poaching in the source countries and ivory demand in the consumer countries.
During the 17th meeting of CITES Parties in Johannesburg, South Africa in October 2016, parties agreed that legal domestic ivory markets was contributing to poaching or illegal trade and as such should be closed.
This agreement has since been endorsed by the UN General Assembly.